Chinese Eggnog Tarts

This post is part of a larger series: An Asian Twist on a Traditional Holiday Meal. Other posts in this series include Chinese Oven Roasted Duck, Keroppi Cookies,Totoro Cookies, Taro Fries, Chinese Long Beans with Garlic, and Kabocha Pumpkin Mochi Cake

I’m a huge, huge, huge custard fan.

I love French crème caramel and the Japanese version “pudin”. I cannot get enough of those Portuguese egg tarts that are slightly burnt on top. I have a weakness for custard-based ice creams (in fact, that’s the only way I make ice cream!), and I’m a huge fan of Chinese egg tarts.

As the holidays are just around the corner, what about taking your traditional Chinese egg tart and spicing it up with some bourbon? The result is this delicious egg tart with a kick – eggnog tarts!


I veered from the traditional egg tart crust recipe, which uses lard in the crust. Instead, I used my favorite basic pie crust recipe. I love making pie crust this way because I think it’s so fool proof that even inexperienced bakers (like me!) can execute it perfectly every time.

Freeze 1 stick of butter (cut up into 1/2 inch cubes) in the freezer. When cold (about 30 minutes), mix in a food processor with flour, salt, and sugar (adding a bit of cold water bit by bit) until a crumbly, slightly wet mixture forms. Form a ball with your hands and then roll out the crust. You should see little specks of butter.
Cut out small crusts with a circular cookie cutter and put the crusts inside of a muffin tin.
Add bourbon-laced custard filling up about 3/4 of the way.

Bake at 350 °F for about 15-20 minutes, or until the egg is set and the crust is golden brown.

My brother-in-law ended up drizzling the tart with more bourbon, which he said was delicious. For a fancy twist, make a sweet bourbon cream sauce and pour over the egg tart.

Enjoy!

Note – please don’t use the top photo as a guide for how the tarts are supposed to look. I was cooking 5 things at once that day (see this post to see the entire meal), and I accidentally left the tarts in the oven for a bit too long! For a better photo of what the tarts should look like on top, check out these photos!
Chinese Eggnog Tarts 
serves about 12

Custard 
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup 2 percent milk
4 eggs beaten
1 oz bourbon
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3-4 Tbsp ice water

use muffin pan

Custard
Heat milk, cream, and sugar over medium heat in a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add the beaten egg mixture in a slow stream to the saucepan while stirring. Continue to stir gently as the egg mixture is being added to ensure proper mixing and to prevent clumps of solid egg bits from forming. Add vanilla extract and bourbon. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and let it cool as you prepare the shells.


Shells (crust)
Freeze 1 stick of butter (cut up into 1/2 inch cubes) in the freezer. While waiting, combine flour, salt, and sugar. When the butter is cold (about 30 minutes), mix in a food processor with the flour mixture. Slowly add ice water one tablespoon at a time until a crumbly, slightly wet mixture forms. Form a ball with your hands and then roll out the crust. You should see little specks of butter. Cut out small crusts with a circular cookie cutter and put the crusts inside of a muffin tin.

Add bourbon-laced custard filling up about 3/4 of the way. Bake at 350 °F for about 15-20 minutes, or until the egg is set and the crust is golden brown.

Optionally sprinkle with nutmeg.

Enjoy!